The Road to Glory
by ThePhenomenalHeel
Summary: Wrestlers deal with a lot on camera, but what happens off camera? A story filled with drama, wrestling, victory/defeat, and even a little love!


A/N: This story chronicles the life of certain superstars but will mainly focus on Seth Rollins, Bayley, Charlotte, Alexa Bliss, and Finn Bálor.

I will try and post every week after Raw/Smackdown just so I can see what some of the storylines are (if it's a bad week so and so, I may gear that attitude towards my writing for the character). There may be overlap with the current champions event, and/or GMs/positions of power but that necessarily doesn't indicate they will stay that way.

This story contains power struggles, friendships, betrayals, title shots, injuries and… maybe a little romance? In respect to the superstars and their personal lives, their relationships and company standing is completely coincidental.

These stories are purely made-up and in no point reflect the attitudes of the superstars or the author towards the WWE/WWE Superstars. I take no credit and all credit and rights reserved go to the WWE.

Please leave a review with opinions/thoughts; I'd greatly appreciate it. Rated T for use of language, violence, and some sexual content.

 **The Kingslayer**

Seth Rollins couldn't believe what he was seeing, sitting right in front of him, in all it pristine glory, was the Intercontinental Championship. Sure, it wasn't the Universal Title, but Rollins felt a sense of pride. The prestige that this title had was undeniable: Pat Patterson was the first IC Champion, Pedro Morales held the championship for a total of 619 days, Honky-Tonk Man held it 454 days consecutively, and Chris Jericho, a man who he grew up watching, has won it 9 times.

Then there was the Miz, the self-proclaimed "A-Lister," the "most must-see superstar in WWE history," who Rollins took the title from at WrestleMania; he even won the title 8 times. Rollins couldn't help but laugh to himself. Sure, the Miz was annoying as hell, ranting and raving about some straight-to-DVD movie he just did or that stupid TV show he has now but even Rollins had to admit it: the guy was a damn good wrestler. The Miz is even a Grand Slam Champion, but now, Seth Rollins was the newest Grand Slam Champion. Rollins was finally in elite company; he knew he belonged, but there was still some doubters with his previous injuries.

Speaking of elite company, that list of Grand Slam Champions included his Shield Brothers Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. Seth loved his brothers, he knew them since his time in NXT and celebrated the Tag Titles with Roman and Dean on separate occasions but deep down inside it still bothered that he was the last of The Shield to get there. He was glad to patch things up with them after his betrayal, he should've known Hunter was going to screw him over, but their reunion was brief, Roman was still chasing the Universal Title (something that still hasn't changed since 2015) and Dean was still injured.

A sharp knock on the door quickly snapped Seth Rollins out of his reverie. The guest was none other than Kurt Angle himself, the GM of Raw.

"Good evening Seth, am I interrupting an intimate moment?" mused Kurt.

"Haha nah, I was just unpacking my stuff, and somehow I found this IC title in my suitcase, and I was wondering who it belonged to" joked Rollins.

"Well, according to my sources, I believe the name on the plate says "Seth Rollins" on it, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say its most likely a mistake," replied Angle in honest jest. "I never got the chance to say congratulations to you, that was an incredible match."

"Thank you sir, I appreciate that. I know you were pretty busy with Ronda showing Stephanie and Hunter what real in-ring competition was like," replied Rollins. In all fairness, Kurt and Ronda did put on a great match and it was great to see someone else deliver their own brands of justice to the Authority.

"Thank you, it felt great to back in the ring and help mentor someone so talented like Ronda. It has been a while since I was in a WrestleMania match; it felt good. Anyways, I came to tell you who your opponent was tonight, I wasn't sure if you have been to gorilla and checked the schedule but I have given you an IC title defense tonight against Elias."

"Elias? Seriously? I have to defend against a guy that struts around wearing a kimono and carries a guitar pretending his the second coming of Johnny Cash? Alright, as long as I get to interrupt his stupid concert," said Seth.

"Hey, as long as you go out and fight him I don't care if you show up in the Gobbledy Gooker costume," replied Kurt, as he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Seth laughed to himself again. Man, Kurt had a way with word sometimes. He could be a bit oblivious to the wrestling world, but he still had a genuine way to make people laugh. Seth quickly changed, taped up and headed towards gorilla. He saw Elias begin to strum the guitar and insult the crowd. Seth waited patiently until Elias set up for his catch phrase before Seth began to make his way out towards the stage. Just as Elias was about to hit his verse, three words drowned out the singer.

"BURN IT DOWWWWWNNNNN!"

 **The Goddess**

Alexa was mad. Actually, Alexa was pissed. Between losing her Raw Women's Title and then being made a fool of courtesy of Nia and NXT call-up Ember Moon Alexa wasn't having the best of days.

How could a goddess be treated like this? How could she be punished when she brought the title to a new prestige and held on to it for so long?

On top of that, Alexa had nothing tonight at Raw. Ever since she lost the title, Alexa began spending numerous hours in the gym. It was almost similar to two-a-days for a high school sport. In the mornings, it was a 5 AM wake-up and cardio program till she practically vomited, followed by weightlifting until her body couldn't pick itself up, let alone another weight. In the evening, she poured over hours of tape, from Alundra Blayze, to Lita, to Trish Stratus. She cut herself off from the world; when she came to work, she headed straight for the dressing room and continued to study. She would seldom speak to anyone, save for Hunter, Stephanie or Vince.

As she came to the arena tonight in her rental car, she listened to nothing on the radio. Normally, she would listen to the newest music on today's hits or some EDM but she couldn't bring herself to turn it on. Somehow, while lost in thought, she parked the car and turned it off. Alexa quickly snapped out of it, she had to focus, she repeated to herself. Alexa was so lost in thought that when she opened the car door, she didn't realize she almost knocked someone over.

Alexa, being in a foul mood, immediately took it out on the person she nearly hit.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she snapped, not pausing to look to see who she almost hit. Alexa was in such a rush to seclude herself from the rest of the world in her locker room that if it weren't for the fact that she dropped her phone on the way out of the car she would have been halfway to the arena by now.

Silently cursing for being so unfocused and clumsy, Alexa wheeled around and bent to pick up her pink iPhone only to find it not there. Beginning to panic, Alexa dropped to her knees and began crawling, looking for her phone under her rental car. Frustrated, Alexa got up and went to turn around to collect her suitcase and travel bag. Hopefully, she thought to herself that she was seeing things and just had her phone in her bag before she got out.

For the second time however, Alexa, lost in thought, bumped into the very same individual she hit with the car door. Fed up at this point with the past month, Alexa snapped.

"Damn it, I said watch where you are going! Are you blind or stupid or something?" Alexa said incredulously. "I swear if you don't apologize for being in my way I'll slap the taste right out of your mouth."

"Well, considering the fact that I have Chipotle as my dinner tonight, I'd prefer not to lose that sense just yet thank you very much."

Alexa froze. Her eyes widened and her heart started racing. She slowly turned around, but she didn't need any visual confirmation to know who was talking to her, she recognized that voice anywhere. She turned around and came face-to-chest and found herself speechless. She slowly looked up until her eyes made contact with his.

"You know, I just got hit by some crazy lady with a car door and dropped my iPhone. However, I don't think a pink phone with glitter really fits my style," teased the stranger.

Alexa just stared, she felt her face get hot and her hands began to sweat. She wanted to say something but was devoid of words.

"You look like you've never seen someone this good looking before, " continued the stranger, teasing her a little more.

Only the stranger wasn't a stranger, not to the WWE, the fans and especially not to her.

That man was Seth Rollins.

 **The Hugger/The Demon**

Bayley was confused. She knew she was still getting adjusted. She was the last of the 4 Horsewomen to finally get the call-up between her, Sasha, Charlotte and Becky. It had been almost two years since getting the call-up and yet she still felt like she was being treated unfairly. Granted she won against Charlotte but losing to Alexa made her feel like she was just a transitional champion, a go-between two people who made more headlines as contenders than she did when Bayley was champion.

It always bothered her that she was the runt compared to everyone else. Charlotte was "The Queen", a genetically gifted athlete with height, speed and technical abilities. It also helped that her father was legendary Ric Flair, who pretty much set the standard for how a champion should look. He was great on the mic, oozed charisma, and could he ever wrestle. Then there was Becky Lynch, the "Irish Lass Kicker", who toiled through the independent scenes and was first ever Smackdown Live Women's Champion. She was powerful and aggressive and could fight any day of the week. Finally, there was the "Boss", Sasha Banks, who talked the talk and walked the walk; she and Bayley had a memorable match in which they both left everything out on the line and saw Bayley take the title from Sasha's hands.

Sasha, what a friendship that blossomed into: a vicious enemy down in NXT thanks to Sasha's overinflated ego and harassment of Bayley. After the match, Bayley earned Sasha's respect and became best friends with her. It was almost destiny that Bayley came and debuted at Raw to reunite with her best friend, but now it all seemed to change. Sasha began acting differently, reverting to her heelish tendencies. She eliminated Bayley at the Royal Rumble, and than pushed her off the Elimination Chamber. Bayley was naïve, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that those matches were everyone-for-themselves but she pictured fighting one-on-one with Sasha for that. And when Bayley turned the tables, Sasha flipped out, calling her a traitor and selfish, which infuriated Bayley.

She just sighed as she finished warming up and was walking to the trainer's room to get her hands taped when she bumped into a familiar face in Finn Bálor. Her and Finn were very close in NXT when he was down there, they spent a lot of time working out and analyzing matches to the point where they nearly texted daily, frequently asking if they saw each other's matches or reviewing the most recent PPV or Raw/Smackdown Live. Bayley even once came out at NXT when Finn was hurt and did a comedic routine of his entrance to try and cheer him up, she knew how bad Finn wanted to be out there and she was glad to see that smile. He even did the same for her when she was having a pretty bad losing streak, although he looked a little frivolous, he also looked pretty charming with her headband and t-shirt on.

"Heya Finn, whatcha up to?" Bayley asked as she bounced over to Finn.

"Oh hey, Bayley, nothin' much. I just got taped up for my match against Curtis Axel tonight," stated Finn with his natural Irish accent prominently making itself known.

"That's great! I look forward to seeing you out there! I just wanted to say hi and tell you that your match at Mania was incredible, one of my favorites."

"Thanks Bay, I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't disappointed that I didn't win, but I know that with a win tonight, they'd be crazy not to keep my name in mind for this upcoming PPV. What are you up to tonight?" Finn asked.

"Oh just a match between Alicia Foxx, I've got this," Bayley replied with a casual smile. Deep down inside, Bayley knew she was talented enough to win but she had other things on her mind at the current moment.

"Well, I've got to go, I'll see you around kiddo."

"Bye Finn."

Bayley grinned. She wasn't that young, but she liked the nickname anyways. Finn called her that down in NXT. It used to annoy her, he made it seem that he thought she was too green for wrestling and that he was better than her. One day, she had enough, she confronted him, one of the few times anyone has ever seen her truly angry. At first, he was taken aback, but he started laughing at her, even when she got angrier, he wouldn't stop. Fed up with Finn, Bayley stormed away, feeling the all-familiar feeling of embarrassment and tears welling up inside her. As soon as she began to walk away, Finn grabbed her and spun her around. To say, that he grabbed her and spun her around may have been melodramatic. When he placed his hand on her shoulder, she almost magnetically spun to him. His hands were gentle yet firm, as if he was holding a child.

"Listen, I don't call you kiddo because I think you are a rookie or not good or anything like that. I call you kiddo because that's what my mentors called me; they saw the youthfulness in me. They saw the passion and desire that had, just like I see in you. Plus that what we call younger people in Ireland, be glad I didn't call you boyo." Finn's smiled disappeared, but Bayley could see that youthfulness in his eyes still gleam and she knew that they were nearly the same. After that, they were nearly inseparable.

As Finn walked away, Bayley found herself wishing she was back in NXT with him, where they learned the ropes of the WWE together. She wanted to be back in the main event, with that title around her waist. However, Bayley knew that she needed to make a big splash to find herself in the title picture. Tonight was the perfect place to do it.

She was goanna prove she belonged: to Finn, the Horsewomen, and to the world.

 **The Queen**

Wrestling has a funny way of functioning. One night, you are the greatest damn female wrestler in the whole world, making the only undefeated woman tap out to your Figure-8 leg lock. Two days later, you find yourself having to defend your title, after being beaten by ambitious upstarts who thought they were hot shit from a developmental brand of your company. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce were minor leaguers: they didn't belong on Smackdown. It was HER show, SHE was the one who made that show great, and now they had tried to take it away from her.

What bullshit, after taking a superkick from those two, that stupid, loudmouth Carmella, "Ms. Money in the Bank" just had to cash in her briefcase. One kick, that's all it took, and Charlotte was knocked out. When she came to, that stupid music was playing and Carmella was prancing about with the title. How could they treat her like that? The daughter of 16-time world champion Ric Flair, how dare this happen. Incensed couldn't even begin to describe it. Most of the women's locker room tried to offer condolences, including Becky and Natalya. Ever the professional, Charlotte accepted those with grace and honor. After all, she was a queen, and a queen never loses her composure. Deep down inside though, Charlotte needed her revenge.

She grew up in this business; her father pretty much revolutionized wrestling. He had transcended the mere existence of what a wrestler was. He worked in a time where wrestlers acted as their characters in the ring and in the public eye, but her father, he lived it. He didn't act, he lived what he said in that ring, as if he had some mental illness that caused delusions of grandeur. He truly rode in limos and flew in jets, he definitely stole kisses (Charlotte shuddered) and she could only imagine what type of deals her father made. He worked his ass off for this company, and yes, he helped her get into the business but she, through her work and sacrifice alone, made herself a superstar. She had earned the respect of her elders and she knew she was one of the role models that aspiring wrestlers aimed to be.

While Charlotte showered, she thought of every possible way that she could get her title back. Surely, she was granted that rematch clause that allowed her to get her chance at Carmella but she just didn't want a match, she wanted a war. The only thing that would make that better is if she made Carmella's life a living hell. Since Charlotte had been through a war herself with Asuka a couple days ago and she took that ambush by the IIconics (what a stupid name), Shane decided to give her the night off, which in all honesty, she appreciated. It allowed her to lick her wounds and create a blueprint for Carmella's destruction. Daddy would be proud, she giggled. Who said a queen had to be fair to all her constituents?

As much as she loved plotting this, it still needed to be approved by creative and the higher-ups. She was respected, but she didn't have creative freedom like Cena or Taker did. As she walked into the Smackdown GM office, she walked into a bit of commotion. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who had some issues. Miz, the Usos, New Day, and Jinder Mahal all were complaining to Shane about one thing or another. Charlotte rolled her eyes. Obviously she picked the wrong time to show up, so she decided to back out quietly, hoping no one would notice her. As she closed the door, she was greeted by a familiar voice.

"Bit chaotic in there isn't it?"

Charlotte knew that voice. It was heavily accented with English. Charlotte turned and saw Paige. Charlotte was a little taken aback; she didn't expect Paige to be here on Smackdown. Granted that Paige retired just a few days before due to an unfortunate neck injury, it was still weird seeing her here. Charlotte felt a little depressed, Paige was an incredible wrestler and even though Charlotte and a few others were part of the "Women's Revolution," Paige was the one that really started it. She was also an incredible wrestler and cared about this industry just as much as Charlotte did.

"Yeah, you could say that. I just figured it would be easier to come back and talk to Shane when the everyone in their decides to act like men instead of 5 year-olds who just had their favorite toy taken," Charlotte responded.

"Boys will be boys. They should be happy that they are even got a chance to be on the WrestleMania card with all the impressive stuff us girls have been doing," Paige remarked. Even though Paige smiled, Charlotte could see a pang of sorrow flash across her face; it had to be killing her to walk around and know that she couldn't lace her boots up with everyone else.

"Yeah, I guess so, nothing I can do about it now," responded Charlotte. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"Oh you know, just trying to see if I can be some sort of help to anyone around," Paige said generically.

Charlotte found that odd, she knew Paige was a bit reserved and didn't hang around and gossip with the rest of the roster. Paige was also mysterious, many people often found her alone talking to herself or sitting alone in the dark. Charlotte didn't think much of it as everyone has a routine of going over his or her promos or focusing on a match. Even though Paige kept to herself, she always helped out Charlotte if there was something important that involved her, whether if it were a change in the script or the schedule.

Charlotte opened her mouth to respond, but Paige's phone rang. Paige looked at the screen and gave Charlotte a look that read "I have to take this, its important", Charlotte nodded and walked away, overhearing Paige being outside and that no one knows. Charlotte found that peculiar and wondered what that could be about but quickly pushed that to the back of her mind when she saw Carmella and the IIconics sitting on the steamer trunks right in front of her.


End file.
